1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network type automated concrete plant for efficiently producing and delivering ready-mixed concrete, and more particularly, to a network type automated concrete plant which can be collectively managed within a group of multiple ready-mixed concrete plants which are distributed and disposed in multiple regions which serve multiple construction sites and are equipped with a ready-mixed concrete producing apparatus, which is capable of realizing efficient operation, management and deployment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a present day ready-mixed concrete selling, production and distribution business (ready-mixed concrete business), the production, technical and sales management staff are located in a production plant in which a fixed type raw material mixer is mounted, and distribution is carried out by exclusive vehicles (agitator trucks), which are located in each plant and managed by that plant.
In such a business environment, since the concrete production ability is determined by an ability inherent in the fixed mixer, compatibility with respect to variation in surrounding demand is extremely poor. That is, since the supply ability within unit time is constant, if demands shift, supply availability for a user may not be achieved, and if demands are reduced, production equipment may not attain actual ability, creating a problem where the production equipment stands idle.
As one way of solving such a problem, there is a method that utilizes a wet mixing system. When this wet mixing system is utilized, the concrete production plant is not equipped with a fixed type mixer, only with the apparatus for the weighing and measuring of the raw materials. Ready-mixed concrete raw materials such as sand, gravel, cement, water, chemical additives and the like are respectively weighed and measured by such apparatus and then, these raw materials are directly fed into the concrete mixer truck. Then, they are kneaded and mixed within the drum of the concrete mixer truck as it is rotated, thereby producing the ready-mixed concrete. Utilizing this method, it is not necessary to equip the concrete plant with a fixed type of mixer, and so the costs for the production equipment of the concrete plant can be reduced.
According to the method utilizing this wet mixing system, unlike the central mixing method in which production is limited by the ability inherent within the fixed type mixer, the raw materials are kneaded and mixed within the drum of the concrete mixer truck, so if the number of mixer trucks is increased, the production ability of the ready-mixed concrete can be maximized within a range not exceeding the maximum value of the weighing and measuring ability of the raw materials. Further, when demands are reduced, the actual production ability can be minimized by reducing the number of mixer trucks in use, thus it is possible to reduce the chance inherent in existing fixed type mixer plants of production equipment becoming inefficiently utilized.
When the wet mixing system having the above-described merit is utilized, there is a problem in that the operation and management of the concrete production plant and the operation and deployment of the concrete mixer trucks, is not efficiently achieved. Further, when the operation and management of a ready-mixed concrete business in which multiple concrete mixer trucks are dispersed among multiple concrete production plants, the operation and management of the concrete production plants, and the deployment and operation of the concrete mixer trucks becomes so complex, that the equipment can not efficiently be managed.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve such problems, and it is an object of the invention to provide a network type automated concrete plant for efficiently producing and delivering ready-mixed concrete. It is also an object of the invention to provide a network type automated concrete plant that can be collectively managed within a group of multiple ready-mixed concrete plants which are distributed and disposed in multiple regions which serve multiple construction sites and are equipped with a ready-mixed concrete producing apparatus, which is capable of realizing efficient operation, management and deployment.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a network type automated concrete plant, which when grouped in multiples (20a), (20b), (20c) and distributed in multiple regions, can serve multiple construction sites, and the use of multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks (18) for the transportation of ready-mixed concrete, produced in the ready-mixed concrete plants, to those construction sites. It is equipped with a communication means (14) for connecting the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants to the plant center by way of a network, and for the plant center (10), which collectively manages the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants connected by the communication means. The plant center sends a plant control signal to the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants to produce the ready-mixed concrete which is to be transported to the construction sites by the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks, wherein each of the ready-mixed concrete plants comprises a means for sending/receiving data (15) in which an identifying number for the ready-mixed concrete truck can be input, and sends the identifying number and the plant number, which identifies the ready-mixed concrete plant, to the plant center, and receives a plant control signal from the plant center, and by way of the plant management means(16), controls the ready-mixed concrete producing apparatus by a control signal from the plant center, and from the ready-mixed concrete producing apparatus (17) which stores the concrete raw materials and which is controlled by the plant management means to produce the ready-mixed concrete. The plant center comprises a system management means for sending and receiving data (11) which receives an identifying number of the ready-mixed concrete truck and a plant number, and sends a plant control signal by way of the vehicle management means (12) which identifies the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks by the identifying number received by the data sending and receiving means, which sends, to the ready-mixed concrete plant of the plant number, a plant control signal for controlling the ready-mixed concrete plant including the composition of the materials for the ready-mixed concrete to be transported by the identified ready-mixed concrete truck, the volume to be transported and details of the destination, and which collectively manages the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants, and the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks by way of a management means (13), and manages the operational status of the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks by means of a status signal sent from the ready-mixed concrete trucks.
In the network type automated concrete plant having the above structure, the ready-mixed concrete truck managing means, displays, in a matrix manner, operational schedules of the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants in time series for each ready-mixed concrete plant, and displays, in a color-coded manner, the operational statuses of the plants by means of status signals sent from the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks which transport the ready-mixed concrete produced in the respective ready-mixed concrete plants, and by the status signals sent from those plants.
In the network type automated concrete plant, according to the invention, the ready-mixed concrete truck managing means comprises a display apparatus for displaying, in a color-coded manner, the status information of the ready-mixed concrete truck, a display processing apparatus which controls the display apparatus and which displays the operational status of the ready-mixed concrete truck and the operational status of the plant, and a receiving apparatus which receives the status information from the ready-mixed concrete truck, the display processing apparatus displays each of the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants in columns of a matrix on a display screen of the display apparatus, and displays a time series operation schedule of each ready-mixed concrete plant in rows of the matrix, and allocates each of the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks to the operation schedules of the respective ready-mixed concrete plants corresponding to the cells of the matrix, and displays the status information from the ready-mixed concrete truck received from the receiving apparatus in the corresponding cells of the matrix corresponding to the ready-mixed concrete truck in a color-coded manner.
In the network type automated concrete plant, according to the invention, the operational statuses of the ready-mixed concrete trucks are displayed in a color-coded manner in accordance with various states such as plant arrival, shipment approval, shipping, shipment complete, worksite arrival, delivery complete and returning.
The network type automated concrete plant having various features as described above comprises, as a system structure, multiple ready-mixed concrete plants (20a), (20b), (20c), multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks (18), a plant center (10), and a communication means (14) for connecting the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants and the plant center through a network.
The multiple ready-mixed concrete plants (20a), (20b), (20c) are distributed in multiple regions which serve multiple construction sites, contain a ready-mixed concrete producing apparatus. This ready-mixed concrete producing apparatus is not equipped with a fixed type mixer as it utilizes the wet mixing system, and this ready-mixed concrete producing apparatus is equipped with a weighing and measuring means for the stored raw materials. Concrete raw materials such as sand, gravel, cement, water, chemical additive and the like are respectively weighed and measured by the weighing and measuring means and then, the concrete raw materials are directly fed into the mixer truck which is the ready-mixed concrete truck. The ready-mixed concrete final product is completed using the wet mixing technique in which the drum of the concrete mixer truck is rotated at high speed for a given time, after which the ready-mixed concrete is then transported to the construction site.
In this manner, the ready-mixed concrete truck loads the ready-mixed concrete produced by the instructions from the plant center within the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants, and transports the same to the construction sites. The communication means connects the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants and the plant center through a network, so that the plant center collectively manages the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants connected to each other by way of the communication means, and sends a plant control signal to the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants, controls the respective ready-mixed concrete plants, and produces ready-mixed concrete which is transported to the construction sites by the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks.
In the respective ready-mixed concrete plants, ready-mixed concrete is produced and loaded into the concrete truck. At that time, the identifying number of the ready-mixed concrete truck is input by the data sending/receiving means, the identifying number and a plant number which identifies the ready-mixed concrete plant are then sent to the plant center, and when the plant control signal from the plant center is received, the control means controls the ready-mixed concrete production apparatus by a control signal received from the plant center, so that the ready-mixed concrete is produced from the stored concrete raw materials by the ready-mixed concrete production apparatus.
In the plant center, when the system management means receives the plant number and the identifying number of the ready-mixed concrete truck, the system management means obtains from the plant management means, a plant control signal for producing the ready-mixed concrete which is to be loaded into the ready-mixed concrete truck having this identifying number, and sends the same to the ready-mixed concrete plant having this plant number in accordance with the plant number received.
The generating and sending operation of the plant control signal to each of the ready-mixed concrete plants is collectively managed by the system management means. The system management means identifies the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks by the identifying numbers received by the data sending/receiving means, and the system management means, sends, to the ready-mixed concrete plant having the plant number, a plant control signal for controlling the ready-mixed concrete plant including instructions such as the composition of raw materials, volume and destination for the ready-mixed concrete to be transported by the identified ready-mixed concrete truck.
In that case, the ready-mixed concrete truck managing means manages the operational status of the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks by the status signal sent from each ready-mixed concrete truck. The ready-mixed concrete truck is managed by the ready-mixed concrete truck managing means in such a manner that operational schedules for the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants are displayed in a matrix manner, in a time series for each of the ready-mixed concrete plants, and the operational statuses of the plants are displayed in a color-coded manner (FIGS. 4 to 8), by the status signals sent from the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks which transport the ready-mixed concrete produced in the respective ready-mixed concrete plants.
More specifically, the ready-mixed concrete truck managing means comprises a display apparatus for displaying, in a color-coded manner, the status information of the ready-mixed concrete truck, a display processing apparatus which controls the display apparatus and which displays the operational status of the ready-mixed concrete truck and the operational status of the plant, and a receiving apparatus which receives the status information from the ready-mixed concrete truck. The display processing apparatus displays each of the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants in columns of a matrix on a display screen of the display apparatus, and displays a time series operational schedule for each of the ready-mixed concrete plants in rows of the matrix, and allocates each of the multiple ready-mixed concrete trucks to the operational schedules of the respective ready-mixed concrete plants corresponding to the cells of the matrix, and displays the status information of the ready-mixed concrete truck based on the information received from the receiving apparatus in the corresponding cells of the matrix, corresponding to the ready-mixed concrete truck in a color-coded manner. The operational statuses of the ready-mixed concrete trucks are displayed in the color-coded manner in accordance with statuses such as plant arrival, shipment approval, shipping, shipment completed, worksite arrival, delivery completed and returning.
With this feature, it is possible to easily and reliably view the various phases of the operational statuses of the concrete trucks and of the multiple ready-mixed concrete plants in the plant center, and it is possible to effectively produce and transport the ready-mixed concrete. Further, since the ready-mixed concrete plants dispersed across the multiple regions, which contain multiple construction sites are collectively managed, it is possible to utilize the plants efficiently.